


Start at Home

by tuesday



Category: Naruto
Genre: Dismemberment, Dubious Morality, Family, Gen, Look At Your Life Look At Your Choices, Murder, Poisoning, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 11:56:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19062190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/pseuds/tuesday
Summary: "This is awkward," Kakashi said.  He was standing in Sakumo's office.  He was holding a bloody kunai in his left hand.  His right was clenched in Councilman Shimura Danzo's hair.





	Start at Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AngryCoworker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngryCoworker/gifts).



> Uh, so, take it as read there's some gruesome stuff on and off-screen. Recip, I hope you enjoy this dark little piece about Kakashi time traveling back to his tiny Kakashi body and immediately enacting change. Thank you to fencesit for the help!

"This is awkward," Kakashi said. He was standing in Sakumo's office. He was holding a bloody kunai in his left hand. His right was clenched in Councilman Shimura Danzo's hair. Sakumo had caught him sawing the councilman's head off. "Weren't you supposed to be out buying more sake to drink yourself to death?"

"Kakashi-kun, what—?" Sakumo felt like he couldn't breathe. 

There was blood all down the front of Danzo's shirt. His arm was burned and disfigured. He was sitting in Sakumo's chair. There was a teacup lying on its side on Sakumo's desk. A small puddle surrounded it, no more than enough to fill it halfway.

Kakashi's eyes were unreadable. "I'd say this isn't what it looks like, but—" Kakashi shrugged, resuming sawing. "—didn't you say something about not lying to actually trusted authority figures? I think you taught me something like that. Or maybe that was Minato-sensei? The past is another country even when you're standing in it."

Sakumo had been disrupting his chakra since the moment he'd stepped in the room, but there was no genjutsu to break. Just his tiny, rules-loving son engaged in corpse desecration after what looked like a very much premeditated murder. Kakashi made a sound of frustration when he hit the bone with an awful grating noise and threaded out a hint of wind chakra along the blade. The metal didn't look to be chakra conductive, but somehow it worked. It was a little bit clumsy, but leagues ahead of where even the most genius of children should be. Leagues ahead of where Kakashi had been.

"What are you doing?" Sakumo croaked.

"Making sure no one can get his eyes. Or his brain. I'm sure there are ways of accessing it even after he's dead, and there's too much to be abused there." Kakashi's tone was even, almost bored. "It was never clear what he did when with Uchiha Kagami's eyes. Can't be too careful these days. I'll be taking the arm, too."

"Why?" Sakumo asked.

"Because he was a murdering, brainwashing megalomaniac who made the world worse by being in it. I'm on a bit of a deadline for something bigger, but why not start at home?" Kakashi started in on the arm. It went faster with the chakra manipulation.

"Bigger—Kakashi-kun, that is a village councilman!" Sakumo wondered if this was it, if it wasn't a genjutsu because his mind had broken under the strain of everyone, even his own son, shunning him for his part in starting the war. "You shouldn't—you can't—"

"Can and should," Kakashi said. His eyes crinkled in a false smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll be out of your hair soon enough. This will be like a bad dream."

There was a part of Sakumo that wanted to say, _Who are you, and what have you done with my son?_

But he knew. Those were Kakashi's eyes staring at him. That was Kakashi's hair standing up to point at the ceiling. That was Kakashi's voice, even as it came out wrong, all wrong, sounded nothing like him. Kakashi smelled the same under it all, like clean sweat and dog hair and the faintest whiff of ozone. 

"What happened to you?" Sakumo asked. "What—what's wrong with you?"

Kakashi was supposed to be safe. He was supposed to be happy, or as happy as he could get, learning under Minato's friendly and watchful gaze. He was supposed to be learning new jutsu and how to be a child, how to smile again. His serious little son was smiling from what Sakumo could see of his face, but it was nothing like what Sakumo had hoped for.

"That's a very long list," Kakashi said, "and I'm afraid we just don't have that much time. I guess you could say I got lost on the road of life. I'm sure you know how that goes."

Kakashi pulled the arm off of Councilman Danzo's shoulder with a wet cracking sound. He grabbed a sealing scroll and placed it and the head in it with a puff of smoke. 

"I'd love to stay, catch up, maybe see if I can't convince you that I'm worth sticking around for this time." Kakashi's smile was darker now. "But I wasn't kidding about that schedule, and any minute now, someone's going to come looking for him and realize he was taken out by a six year old with a grudge."

 _This time_. Sakumo had a number of pieces. He put them together. He didn't like the picture they formed. 

"How far in the future are you from?" Sakumo asked.

Kakashi froze. Only for an instant, but it was enough. He smiled harder, but it was just as empty. "You don't want to know."

"Did you need help?" Sakumo asked.

This, this was what finally broke through that smile. It slid off Kakashi's face and left something hurting and broken behind. Kakashi shook his head. "Not from you. You're already in enough trouble."

"You're my son." Sakumo wanted to take a step forward, but held back, didn't want to scare Kakashi away.

Kakashi sighed. Some small tension drained out of him. "Yeah. In the end, I really am your son."

Sakumo felt it like a physical blow.

Kakashi tilted his head, took in Sakumo, seemed to see all of him. Very gently, he said, "I have a lot of flaws, but I consider that one of my strengths." He put the scroll with Danzo's head and arm in his vest. "See you around, Dad. I hope you're still here when I get back."

With that, Kakashi was gone, leaving Sakumo with a headless, one-armed body in his study. Fuck. Sakumo had no idea what to do with that, but he did know that, whether Kakashi wanted it or not, he needed help. And Sakumo did, too.

Sakumo left the house for the second time that day and ended up on Minato's doorstep. Minato was quick to open the door, but his greeting was polite, reticent.

"Can I come in?" Sakumo asked. "It's about Kakashi."

Minato stood back and gestured him inside. Sakumo took a deep breath and went.


End file.
